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Swinekin
Swinekin The horror of a Swinekin raid condenses all of the trauma of years of war into a few, brutal hours. History In the beginning, the Swinekin were revered as the wisest of Strainseiri. The Ratkin were cleverer and more resourceful, but the Swinekin could find the best path forward in the greatest of adversity. However, their wisdom did not extend to controlling their appetites. It was their Sons and Daughters of Ealaíontóir who brought their downfall. The Druids looked upon one another in lust and laid together, bearing Daoine children in incest. They were condemned for their crime, but Sons took their Daoine children and ran away to build great cities with them, eventually mating with their own daughters to make all the Daoine races. This terrible crime drove Ealaiontoir from the world and made the other Strainseiri look on the Swinekin more critically. They did not like what they saw, as the recognized the great wisdom of their brethren was more often than not geared toward fulfilling their greed than bettering the other tribes. This was the beginning of strife among the tribes, but far from the end of it. Since those dark times, all of the tribes have turned against the Swinekin save the Goatkin. The Wolfkin in particular hate the Swinekin and will slay them if they ever see them. The Swinekin in turn found a great and terrible hatred of the Daoine growing in their hearts. Rather than recognizing that it was their own immoderation that led their children to sin, they blamed the Daoine for bringing shame on them. For thousands of years, they have sought to destroy Daoine and bring them suffering at any cost. Many Swinekin will pass themselves off as Daoine for a time to gain influence, before betraying them. They believe that if they can kill all of the Daoine, eventually the other Strainseiri will turn to them for their wisdom once more. As always, their own lusts make them blind and they do not see their acts only disgust the other Strainseiri and drive them further away. Appearance and Magic It is extremely rare for Swinekin to take Daoine for mates. As a result, they have little variation in their appearance, having primarily mated with one another for thousands of years. In their Daoine form, they are normally fairly stout people. The males average 5'10" and the females 5'4", with sturdy and muscular bodies. They all have brown hair, brown eyes and relatively light skin. When they're young, their hair may be blond or auburn before darkening. Despite the stereotypes of pigs, they're rarely fat. In their animal form, Swinekin are giant wild boars covered in course dark hair, with males sporting tusks. They average between six and nine feet long and seven hundred to a thousand pounds. Piglets are also covered in hair, but it is reddish brown to a golden tan and forms stripes or spots similar to a fawn. Other than their giant size, they are nearly impossible to identify as Swinekin from real wild boars. Swinekin raiders spend many years perfecting their third form. This monstrous form takes the immense size and power of their boar form and puts it on two legs. They retain their tusks if they are male and their hind trotters, with human hands that end in hoof-like claws. Swinekin who choose to focus on esoteric arts rather than raiding may develop magic instead of their fearsome third form. Such magic may include the ability to tell when a relative is in danger and where they are, to cause an enemy's weapon to fail to strike its target, or to incite madness in another. Customs Sounders are normally made up of a powerful older female, her sisters, adult daughters, all of their young children and their Druid. Raiding sounders are made up of mature males, who have little to do with females outside of the breeding season and rarely even know for certain which piglets are their own offspring. Most Swinekin Druids come from long lines of Daoine women offered protection by the sounder. However, at times a Druid may die without having any daughters, cutting off her line. At this time, the matriarchal sow will lead a party of her sounder to a Goatkin herd to negotiate for a new Druid. If this is impossible, they may kidnap a Daoine woman from a village and keep her to breed her to their boars until she produces a daughter who can be trained. Despite the terrifying reputation that the Swinekin have developed over the years, this is primarily owing to their males. The sows have little interest in raiding unless it's absolutely necessary. They're far more concerned with feeding their young and remaining safe and happy. Though their history is a dark one, they tell it often and try to urge their piglets to learn from their mistakes, but invariably the young boars will run off to join the raiding sounders and ignore what they have been told by their mothers. At times, the sows may masquerade as a troupe of actors and entertain Daoine with their plays, music, and storytelling. However, the sows are not helpless. If anyone or anything should ever threaten one of the piglets, their fury and violence puts the boars to shame. They will not rest until the threat has been utterly destroyed. Seasonal Gathering The Swinekin have no special gathering space. Instead, in mid-autumn the boars will find a sounder for mating. When this happens, males who had lived and fought alongside one another for years might fight each other to the death for the opportunity to mate. Usually, it doesn't come to death, as the younger and weaker males will retreat and leave the females to the older, stronger boars. When the mating is done, the young males who have just reached maturity will leave with the older boars. After childhood, this is the only real contact had between males and females. Multiple births are not uncommon among sows. Many will have twins, with some even having triplets or quintuplets. At times, the sounders may grow so large that they need to be divided up. Shortly after the matings have taken place, the matriarch and one of her daughters or sisters will come to an agreement about who will leave for the new sounder and who will stay. Sometimes the matriarch will also take this opportunity to step down and give the sounder to a younger sow, taking on the role of an advisor instead. Allies The Swinekin sows are on peaceful terms with the Goatkin. Otherwise, all Strainseiri and Daoine despise them because of the raiding of the boars. Category:Strainseiri